Pod Insights True Crime Conversations The Three Mums Who Teamed Up To Solve Their Children’s Crimes About this episode When three adult children vanish or turn up murdered back-to-back in Bakersfield, California, their heartbroken mothers refuse to wait for answers.
Banding together to form a fierce, unstoppable sisterhood, they launch their own rogue investigation, uncovering a dark underworld of ghost guns, addiction, and fraud. But just as their amateur detective work forces a breakthrough, a devastating plot twist blindsides the community: one of the missing victims is suddenly charged with her own friend's brutal murder.
Journalist Olivia LaVoice joins the podcast to unpack the emotional, chaotic, and utterly baffling reality of the Bakersfield Three.
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CREDITS
Guest: Olivia LaVoice
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0533976/Host: Gemma Bath https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemmabath/?originalSubdomain=au
Senior Producer: Tahli Blackman https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahli-blackman-205a891b7/?originalSubdomain=au
Group Executive Producer: Ilaria Brophy
Video Editor: Julian Rosario
Audio Designer: Tegan Salder
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Transcript 0:01 Speaker 00 It's May 2018 and Jane Parent is desperately trying to find her daughter. Bailey Despot has been missing since late April in their hometown of Bakersfield, California. The 21-year-old had been living at her boyfriend Matthew Queen's house. It's believed the last time she was seen was outside his property. Jane has been plastering the city with flyers of her daughter's face, but no one has seen the beautiful young woman with the piercing green eyes and long brown hair. Across town, another mother is desperately searching. Her son Micah Holson-Bake went missing one month before Bailey. As their parents will soon discover, the pair knew each other. But that's not all.
0:45 Speaker 00 There's a third victim, and this man has been murdered, right in between Micah and Bailey's disappearances. It's not long before James's mother joins the other two mums, and together, they start to investigate. "What happened?", they ask, "to the Bakersfield Three."
1:08 Speaker 00 I'm Gemma Buff and you're listening to True Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the world's most notorious crimes by speaking to the people who know the most about them. No one wants to be the mother of a murdered child. No one wants to be the mother of a missing child. But in 2018, Jane Parent, Di Byrne and Cheryl Holson-Bake were part of the same club. They were all grieving and desperately searching for answers in their adult children's cases. Doing those two things together, as a team, they forged an unbreakable bond, a fierce sisterhood that saw them proudly claim the rallying cry: "Fight like a mother."
1:52 Speaker 00 Not only did these women give the local detectives and journalists a run for their money with their investigative skills as they pieced together their children's last movements and last interactions, but they also turned their tragedy into advocacy amongst their search for answers. They raised tens of thousands of dollars for crime-solving programmes. They met with local government officials to advocate for more funding for investigations, better technology, stronger coordination between agencies, and reforms to public safety systems. All issues they'd come across while playing detective. Not only that, they also found the time to lend their support and love to other Bakersfield families
2:34 Speaker 00 trying to navigate the justice system. Quite frankly, these women were and are incredible. Their fierce determination, strength, love for their children, and unconditional friendship is to be admired. Alone, they admit they might have crumbled into their grief, but together, they were unstoppable. Tragically, Diane Byrne, mother of James, isn't with us anymore. She died from ovarian cancer in 2024. Reporter Olivia LaVoice covered the many twists and turns in these three overlapping cases alongside the mums. Her podcast, The Bakersfield Three, tells their story in detail. Olivia joins us now.
3:24 Speaker 00 Olivia, thank you for joining us on True Crime Conversations. You know Bakersfield well. You've lived there, you've worked there. For those of us who've never been there, what's it like? What's Bakersfield like as a place?
3:38 Speaker 01 So, Bakersfield is a city in California, but I think a lot of people who've never been, when they hear California, they're envisioning beaches and Hollywood. Bakersfield is not that, at all. Bakersfield is in the middle of the state and it's quite rural. It has a small-town feel, even though it's not a small town. It's a relatively large city. Bakersfield, unfortunately for the people who live there, Bakersfield is plagued with...
4:17 Speaker 01 A lot of issues, a high crime rate being at the top of the list. And I mean, to be frank, most people in the state of California who do not live in Bakersfield, they don't consider it a nice place. It has a bit of a rough reputation, if you will.
4:38 Speaker 00 I want to start with Bailey Despot. Can you tell us a bit about who she was and when she went missing?
4:45 Speaker 01 Yes, so Bailey was 20 years old when she went missing in April 2018. And Bailey, like most of the people involved in this case, was someone who had a great upbringing. She had so many things going for her. And unfortunately, there were some tragic circumstances in her life that ultimately led to her going down
5:18 Speaker 01 what you would call, you know, the wrong path.
5:22 Speaker 01 And ultimately, put her in the crosshairs of some, some of the players in this case that, you know, aren't the type of people you'd think someone like Bailey would have been around.
5:36 Speaker 00 Tell me about how you first, because Bailey was your in into this story, wasn't it? And you were kind of in a courthouse, flicking through documents. And she was your way into this story. Tell me about how that kind of unfolded.
5:48 Speaker 01 So I was doing something I routinely did at the courthouse, which was go through publicly filed search warrants. And I came across a search warrant about a man who basically was being investigated for having a gun when he legally was not supposed to.
6:08 Speaker 01 And there was just one line in that search warrant that really stood out to me, which was that this individual was living with a woman at the time of her disappearance. And so I read that. It was just, it was so fascinating to me because it really wasn't relevant to the guns, it seemed at first glance. And it was so vague, but yet so huge at the same time. And so that, all it said was, he was living with a woman at the time of her disappearance, something along those lines. So I was like, okay, I have to know
6:49 Speaker 01 who this woman is. I have to know more. And that woman was, of course, Bailey Despot.
6:54 Speaker 00 And that man was Matthew Queen. Tell us a bit about him because they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Who was he?
7:02 Speaker 01 So Matthew Queen, also a very interesting individual. In terms of, from the outside, he looked, he looked like he really had it all together. He had a good job, good career as an electrician. He owned a nice home in a nice neighborhood. He was married with children. However, he also was in a relationship with Bailey, who was half his age. And what,
7:40 Speaker 01 you know, his friends and colleagues weren't seeing was Matthew Queen appeared to have an interest in guns. And, you know, as law enforcement would go on to say, they believed he had an interest in building guns, high-powered assault rifles that are illegal. And that he was also
8:06 Speaker 01 They believed dabbling in drugs.
8:09 Speaker 00 Right. Okay, so let's pause on Matthew and Bailey and bring in Micah here. He was another missing person within a month of Bailey. Who was he and what were the circumstances around his disappearance?
8:23 Speaker 01 So when I first started looking into the case, I'm looking at it just through the lens of Bailey's disappearance. And then I quickly find out that she was friends with Michael Holson-Bake and that he had gone missing almost exactly one month before she had. And Micah was someone who really had created an amazing life for himself, a really successful career as a financial advisor, you know, a wife, he had a child. And then he, he had surgery that resulted in him being prescribed pain medication that he ultimately became
9:08 Speaker 01 addicted to. And slowly but surely, it completely derailed his life. So at the time of his disappearance, he was involved in drugs and also hanging out with some shady characters who, you know, I actually interviewed some of them, some of the shady characters who would tell me, you know, Micah so did not fit in. We were like, who, why is this guy hanging out with us? Like, he clearly is cut from a different cloth, you know, he doesn't seem like someone who would be hanging out with drug addicts, you know, in a garage somewhere. Unfortunately, that is where, you know, Micah ended up. And that, that is
9:48 Speaker 01 a reoccurring theme that you see in the podcast, whether it's with the victims as well as suspects, where these people really all, you know, had it together. And through circumstances, you know, none of them set out to start, you know, to become drug addicts. It really, you know, it's what we see so much here in America, especially with the opioid crisis, you know, with, it starts with the prescription for a legitimate medical reason. And, you know, ends in addiction. So.
10:25 Speaker 00 And it is a really good reminder that you could grow up in the most amazing home. But you know, a few wrong turns and this is where you end up. And this is like, I think where the mums come in because these mums that we're about to tell you about
10:41 Speaker 00 are so loving and warm and kind and nurturing to their kids. How did Micah and Bailey's mums first connect?
10:50 Speaker 01 Bailey's mom, Jane, and Micah's mom Cheryl first connected because Cheryl and her husband are essentially doing their own investigation into trying to find Micah. And they had heard Bailey's name before. They knew that Bailey was someone that Micah, you know, had hung around with. And one day, when they're just sort of driving around, passing out their own missing flyers for Micah, they see a missing flyer for Bailey and they make that connection. And think, okay, this is really weird. So they then reached out to Bailey's mom, Jane.
11:36 Speaker 01 And then from there, so you have Bailey's mom and Micah's mom connected.
11:43 Speaker 01 And then you have a third mom and a third victim, James Colstead, who knew both, James knew both Bailey and Micah, but he was really more Micah's friend. And James was shot to death about two weeks after Micah went missing. And about two weeks before Bailey went missing. So this series of events was you have Micah goes missing in end of March, 2018. Mid-April, James is shot to death outside of the home of a local chiropractor. And then two weeks after that, you have Bailey go missing.
12:28 Speaker 01 And so. The three moms realized, okay, our three children knew each other and their disappearances and murder happened essentially back to back. You know, is it possible that this really is a coincidence? Or is there a connection here?
12:47 Speaker 00 You got those mums in one room together. What was it like kind of facilitating that? And kind of seeing them form, it's almost like a task force, a police task force in what they kind of went out to do in their investigation. What was it like to be there to witness those three mums being together?
13:07 Speaker 01 It was really, really powerful, almost overwhelming in a way because they just, there was such an intensity there. But at the same time, these three women are, I always say like they are the very definition of a mother. They're so, all three of them are so maternal and fiercely protective. And, you know, I kind of think that that's what made them so good at this because no one's going to, you know, no one's going to work harder than a mom, you know, when it comes to protecting their child, right? So it was,
13:53 Speaker 01 it was amazing. But yeah, they, you know, I think we had that first meeting and it was maybe less than a week later that, you know, they'd show up to my news station and have like binders of information that the three of them had compiled together. So yeah, I was, it was intense, but in a good way.
14:15 Speaker 00 Can you tell us a bit more about their dynamic? Because each one of these women had a very specific skill set that they kind of brought to the team. You had one on the phones, you had one on the kind of organization. Can you tell us a bit about who they were in and amongst all of this?
14:29 Speaker 01 Yes. So Micah's mother Cheryl, she is like an organization queen. She was the one who was really good at making sure all the information was put into spreadsheets and diagrams. And, you know, she was kind of their computer whiz as well.
14:52 Speaker 01 Then you have Diane, or Di, as everyone calls her, James's mother, who, Di, Di was the one who was very good at scheduling meetings with just about everyone you could think of, law enforcement, city council members. She was very good at sort of being the face of the three moms and their mission. And then you have Bailey's mom, Jane, who is the one who wants to pound the pavement all day and night. She will literally spend 12
15:36 Speaker 01 hours straight taping up missing flyers without, you know, without taking a water break, and she doesn't think twice about it. She also, Jane is also someone who will not take no for an answer. She's pushy, but in the best way. So, you know, the three of them, really, they were such an amazing team because of, you know, their unique strengths and whatnot. And they also would always say that they would take turns supporting each other. Like, they would take turns, you know, one day Jane would say, "Okay, I'm really struggling today. I feel like I can't get out
16:18 Speaker 01 of bed." And, you know, then it would be Cheryl and Di who would help support her and, you know, sort of pick up the slack for her, if you will. And they would all alternate doing that, you know, taking care of each other. And so it was amazing because they had this common goal of finding answers of what happened to their children, but they also are helping support each other through such a horrific...
16:49 Speaker 01 Complicated process of grieving, but grieving without answers and, you know, just really complex stuff.
16:58 Speaker 00 One of the lines I heard the, one of the mothers say was, if we were by ourselves, we couldn't hold ourselves together long enough to do this. So it's, I think that was really poignant because it shows that, you know, alone, they might have fallen apart, but together they had this kind of camaraderie, this friendship, this kind of sole purpose that made them so powerful.
17:19 Speaker 01 Yeah, I, I absolutely believe that.
17:23 Speaker 00 Where did you come into this? Were you kind of reporting stories as you, as they helped you find them? Were you steering them in the right direction? Because the two missing people and the, and James's case, they were kind of playing out in the news headlines at the time, weren't they?
17:40 Speaker 01 So, you know, it's, it's funny. I always say that the moms give me way too much credit for my work on the case.
17:53 Speaker 01 I also always say they really didn't need me. You know, they were, they could do any investigating I could do, they could do 10 times more and just, yeah, they, they totally didn't need me. That being said, I was dedicated to covering every development on the case. And, you know, in local news, that can be a challenge when, you know, you want to keep a case alive, you want to keep the story out there, but sometimes they're just, there are no developments and unfortunately, you know, the powers that be, they're not
18:34 Speaker 01 going to let you put a story on air if there's nothing new to report, right? And so, yeah, I got lucky with this case in, in the sense that it seemed like there was always another development, another twist and turn. So I was reporting on it much more consistently than most of my other cases because of that. So I, I'm trying to remember exactly how long it was that I was reporting on it in local news.
19:09 Speaker 01 About a year and a half, I want to say. And then after I left local news, I stayed in touch with the moms and continued, you know, following the case and whatnot. And I always knew that I wanted to tell the story in a way that was, in a way that I felt like would do the story justice. And local news, I love it. I'm so grateful for my time there, but the stories are like two minutes long. For this story, I'm like, okay, I need a podcast and I need it to be, it's going to be long. It's not going to be a short one.
19:49 Speaker 00 I want to kind of help listeners understand. You did touch on the fact that all three of these people, these, the kids in this scenario, were starting to go down quite dark paths. So we had kind of Micah's mental health that really deteriorated before he went missing. We had James that had lived through the mother of his child dying, addiction. And then we have Bailey who survived a rape and she had a miscarriage, an overdose. Like, these are all really serious things that are happening in these people's lives. I want to focus in on James for a moment because this is where it starts to get quite criminal. He was actually cashing fraudulent checks, wasn't he?
20:31 Speaker 01 Yes, this was a whole area of crime that I really didn't understand. And it's funny because when I was making the podcast, I was interviewing someone who was involved in this mail check fraud with James. And he was explaining it to me and he could tell that I didn't really understand it. And he was sort of like, aren't you a crime reporter? And I'm like, yes, I am, but not this type of crime. This is, yeah, this was not my area of expertise. Yes, exactly. White collar. And in a way so simple, but surprisingly efficient, apparently. It was just, they would just go around robbing people's mailboxes and would...
21:20 Speaker 01 You know, I guess, pretty often find checks in people's mailboxes and using the chiro-- so this is where the chiropractor comes into play. The chiropractor owned his own business and therefore had a business bank account. And I guess it was much easier for these fraud-- for these checks, the stolen checks, to be cashed through the chiropractor's business account. And so James and others would bring the stolen checks to the chiropractor, have him cash them, and then they would split, uh, split that money 50/50. And so the night
22:05 Speaker 01 that James was murdered, um, you know, the story that I was always told was he went to the chiropractor's house because there was some sort of dispute about one of these checks. Um, though the chiropractor ultimately denied that. Um, so yes, so you have the checks. And then the other crime that plays a big role in this case was the manufacturing of illegal firearms.
22:36 Speaker 00 After the break, Olivia tells me about the ghost gun ring that two of the Bakersfield three were involved in.
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23:19 Speaker 01 Basically, they called them ghost guns and they would build these, they were just these really intense guns that had no tracking numbers on them. So that's what made them, you know, they were illegal for being high-power assault rifles, if I remember correctly, as well as having no serial numbers, which is where the terminology ghost guns comes into place. And so these guns were really made for people. They're made for people who could not buy guns legally. And also people who wanted to use guns without having to worry about,
24:04 Speaker 01 you know, there being a serial number that law enforcement could trace back to, you know, oh, Bob Smith bought this gun, you know, on this date at this store type of thing. So.
24:15 Speaker 00 How did Micah and Bailey even get kind of wrapped up in that? Because we've got James with the four checks and then it's Micah and Bailey that are involved in this kind of gun operation.
24:24 Speaker 01 With James as well as Micah and Bailey, it seems like it really all boils down to
24:32 Speaker 01 addiction and, you know, they began doing these things in order to get money for drugs. Bailey's involvement with the ghost guns, as far as I could tell, especially initially, was just that, you know, she was dating and living with Matthew Queen, who, you know, despite having a career, a successful career as an electrician, you know, police said that he had this hobby, if you will, of building these high-powered assault rifles, the ghost guns.
25:11 Speaker 01 And yeah, you know, I never, I never got as much clarity on, on this aspect of it as I would have liked because, you know, the, some of the people that I interviewed that were building these guns, like this was like their. This was their job, so to speak. This was how they were making a living. Matt Queen had an actual, real job. He certainly didn't need to be involved in illegal firearms in order to pay his mortgage. So I don't know. It's just, just kind of the interesting, odd part of the case.
25:47 Speaker 00 I'm going to bring us now to kind of a big breakthrough in the case, which was two body parts being found kind of two months apart, an arm and a leg in two different waterways in Bakersfield. When that news started coming through, what were the moms' reactions? Because they've obviously spent months on this investigation, searching, and then suddenly body parts turn up.
26:08 Speaker 01 It was so difficult for the moms when first the leg was found at a popular lake. And then about a month later, a group of boys found a bag in the, in the river. And inside that bag, they found a human arm. It was so difficult for the moms because of course their first thought was, do either of these body parts belong to either of our missing children, Micah and Bailey? But then there's also, you know, hope that it, it was so complicated. They hoped that obviously the body parts did not belong to their children.
26:53 Speaker 01 But at the same time, they were like, well, if they do, then, you know, at least there's an answer, right? I think, you know, missing persons cases are so incredibly challenging for loved ones when they really feel in their core that their loved one is no longer here on this earth. But until you have proof of that, it's impossible to not have a little hope. And yeah, so it was for me as. A reporter, it was very heavy to watch them sort of navigate this push and pull,
27:38 Speaker 01 push and pull of, okay, I want to believe my child's still alive, but at the same time, I really, I sort of know that they're not. So do I want to believe that a severed arm belongs to my child? No, but at the same time, if it is my child, then, you know, at least there's something to go off of. And then it got very sad and very surprising once I learned, along with the mothers, that the DNA testing was going to take so long. I believe they were initially told it would be up to a year. And yes,
28:23 Speaker 01 and so that was, that was horrible. The moms were like, this is the worst feeling in the world, wondering is, is a body part a piece of my child? And now you're telling me, we might have to wait a year to find out? I mean, it was, it was unbelievable. And, you know, I'm, I was a local crime reporter. It was my job to know things like that. I had no clue. I had no clue. And I don't think I ever would have if it wasn't for the moms. I mean, there were quite a few severe issues within the Bakersfield,
29:05 Speaker 01 the Kern County and California justice system that I was completely unaware of until the moms brought the issues to the forefront.
29:16 Speaker 00 Well, they didn't take that year-long wait.
29:20 Speaker 00 In their stride, they they changed it. They they went and talked to law officials. They moved the process along. Tell us a bit about that because that was pretty unprecedented.
29:29 Speaker 01 It was. You know, I've never seen anything like it. It was amazing. They, simply put, they were not going to take the, you know, you might have to wait a year answer. They weren't gonna, they weren't going to accept that. They just felt like there is just, there has to be another way. And there was, there was technology out there that could get them result, could get them answers very quickly. And so, you know, from their perspective, it just, it simply did not make sense for the technology to not be utilized. And then, you know, they're told, well, it can't be utilized because we don't have the funding,
30:12 Speaker 01 to which the moms said, okay, great, we'll get the funding. You know, they're, they weren't going to take any of these answers. They were like, no, it's not, you know, there's no challenge that the three of us can't overcome. And so not only did they raise all the funding that was needed for their specific cases, but they went on to do it for, just for the criminal justice system in Bakersfield as a whole, right? They started raising money for all unsolved cases. So that was, that was really, really cool to witness that. And I think it's so rare that as a crime reporter, you get to
30:56 Speaker 01 see people do something, make something good out of what is, you know, someone's worst nightmare. So yeah, very inspiring.
31:08 Speaker 00 And their worst nightmare, they were living it and they managed to do that, which I think is even more inspiring. So these body parts are found around mid-year and then five days before Christmas, they get the news of the DNA. Do you remember finding out about that? Did they call you? How did you find out?
31:24 Speaker 01 Yes. They called me. They were together and it was.
31:32 Speaker 01 Absolutely horrific. Uh, the, the news that they were given was that the leg did not match to Micah or Bailey, but that the, the severed arm that was in the bag in the river did match to Micah. It was so devastating. It was so shocking. Um, I was not, I don't know. I, I just remember really not expecting it. Um, and I'll never forget, you know, the emotion and I don't really think that Micah's mom was able to actually say anything on that call, you know?
32:13 Speaker 01 It was such raw grief that, um, I, I mean, this was before I had children myself. If I had children, I don't know if I could have done this. I don't know if I could have been, you know, I would have been sobbing right there with her. It is so, it is actually harder for me now, all these years later, at being a mother myself, to think back to these moments than it was, um, when I was actually living them. So, so it was really intense.
32:45 Speaker 00 Because you mentioned severed, so it was very obvious to Micah's mom that he had suffered violence. Like that arm wasn't there because it had just fallen off. Like it was a, a very violent act.
32:58 Speaker 01 And so, you know, it was one thing to have confirmation that, okay, Micah was in fact murdered. But for the confirmation, I mean, it wasn't just confirmation of that. It was confirmation that he was murdered and then his body was dismembered. And cases of dismemberment are pretty rare. Uh, and it was also quite jarring to think, okay, so these teenage boys just happened to, you know, feel, feel something brush up against one of their legs, decided to pull it up, saw it was a bag, decided to take it to shore and open it. I mean, so many other people, they would have felt something brush up against their leg
33:40 Speaker 01 and just walk away, right? Like it was so, it was really incredible that they opened the bag, you know, whatsoever. But then we're also thinking, okay, well, where's the rest of him? How many, how many more bags are there in that river? And, you know, it was, it was crazy. It was crazy. And a lot of people. Then started talking about organised crime. Because the the idea was, you know, the dismemberment was so brutal. A lot of people felt like that that was an indicator that, you know, this must be the work of, you know, a drug cartel or some violent gang.
34:26 Speaker 00 Well, this is where the case got quite overwhelming, wasn't it? Because it was like, was it the mafia? Was it the bikies? Was it, you know, other criminals in town? I want to skip us forward because I know that took up a lot of kind of that over Christmas and then early 2019. But then police kind of announced, which wasn't huge news to the mums, but it was confirmation at least that Micah and Bailey's disappearances were linked. But they also stated that James's wasn't. So that wasn't news to you, was it? But I guess it was confirmation from authorities.
34:58 Speaker 01 Yes, to me, the announcement was significant because typically the Bakersfield Police Department, they typically just didn't comment on cases that were that were open, right? So it was sort of like, okay, wait. And of course, at that point, it had been quite some time that myself and the mums had been saying to this police department, are the cases connected? You know, what can you tell us about that? And they wouldn't comment on it. But then suddenly, unprompted, they made this announcement.
35:41 Speaker 01 So it was just sort of unusual, I guess you could say. I was very curious as to why they were choosing to do it.
35:51 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was interesting.
35:53 Speaker 00 2019 is when you left Bakersfield and moved to another job in another city. What was that like for you, leaving this case so unfinished? And leaving the mums that you'd formed such a relationship with?
36:06 Speaker 01 I, I mean, it was, it was the worst. I
36:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, I really, I was so involved for so long at that point. It, you know, it's, it was hard for me to leave
36:26 Speaker 01 a lot of cases that were unsolved, that I really hoped to be there, working on the case when they would get solved. But the Bakersfield three, you know, given my connection to the three moms, that was definitely the hardest. And, you know, I wanted to, I, I wanted the moms to still be able to lean on me despite me not being there physically anymore. And despite me not being a, a local reporter in Bakersfield, I still felt like, okay, like I can, that doesn't mean that I still can't be connected to the case and whatnot. So, but yeah, it was tough.
37:09 Speaker 00 Up next, we reveal the revelation about Micah's murder that no one saw coming.
37:17 Speaker 00 I want to bring us now to the big twist in this case, which is from your words, what you describe it as. It's May 2020, so peak COVID, and there's an arrest and some charges laid. Can you tell us about that? Because that was really shocking news to, to basically everyone.
37:35 Speaker 01 Yes, it was May 2020 when
37:39 Speaker 01 charges were filed in Micah's murder. And there were two people charged. One of them was Matt Queen, which was very surprising in the sense that, you know, up until this point, the public perception was that Matt Queen was likely a suspect in Bailey's disappearance because, you know, he was her boyfriend. So people were not expect, people thought, okay, if Matt Queen gets charged with anything, it's going to be in relation to Bailey's disappearance, not Micah's. So that was surprising in itself. The second person that was charged with Micah's
38:24 Speaker 01 murder, this was, I mean, there, there were truly no words that I've ever been able to come up with to really adequately explain how utterly shocking and earth shattering this was. Because the second person that was charged with Micah's murder was Bailey. And you know, at this point, it had been about two years since this had been a very public news story, you know, having these three friends that, you know, went missing or were murdered back to back, and as well as their three mothers who banded together
39:06 Speaker 01 to find answers, but then were also doing so much good in the community. I also think what made it even more shocking was that of the three, Bailey was the most sympathetic victim because she was a young, beautiful woman, right? So it was easy for people to look at her and, I don't know, I think that's just the only way I can put it, is that she just was the most sympathetic. And yet, now we're being told she was, she was, not only are we being told that, okay,
39:44 Speaker 01 she was a murderer, we're being told that she murdered Micah, her friend, and, you know, this other victim, and we thought they were victims together. It just, I mean, even now, I feel like I struggle to talk about it in a way that really is clear and concise because it's still so shocking and baffling. And furthermore, another big question everyone had the day that the charges were announced was, well, wait a second, do you got, is Bailey still missing? Or do you guys think, you know, is she in a jail cell somewhere? And they said, no, she's still missing.
40:26 Speaker 01 Okay, so up until this point, we've all believed her disappearance was suspicious and that she most likely Had been murdered herself. Is that not the belief anymore? Do you guys think now she's just like on the run? And we were told, no, you know, we don't, the answers that day I felt like were not as straightforward as personally I would have liked, but you know, ultimately, no, it doesn't, I do not believe that law enforcement believes that she is on the run. I think the belief is that she was also a victim, but that prior to becoming a victim
41:06 Speaker 01 herself, that she was involved in Micah's murder. So, you know, I'm, I'm just going on a rant about this because you could tell it is still, it's still emotionally affects me and I'm the reporter, you know, it's, I sort of feel like I don't really have a right to be emotionally affected by it, but I was and I still am, because I knew how much this was going to turn the lives upside down of the three moms.
41:40 Speaker 00 I can see, I can see how you reacted like that. You were emotionally invested in these mums. How did Micah and, and Bailey's mums, did it rock their relationship? Were they able to kind of look past this and remain friends?
41:55 Speaker 01 So ultimately, yes, they were able to weather the storm together, which, you know, is unbelievable. But it was not, you know, it was, it was complicated. And I think to some extent, it's, it will always be complicated. I think that James's mom, Di, was the most amazing person to be sort of the middle man between Jane and Cheryl for a little while.
42:35 Speaker 01 You know, Cheryl and Jane have both said they think in a way it helped that it was right in the middle of COVID, back when everyone was very isolated. So.
42:46 Speaker 01 It, you know, they, they did keep their distance from each other for a little while, but it made it feel less, less so because of, you know, this earth shattering news. Um, but yeah, it was, it was tough. And in the podcast, you know, when they talk about it, I, I think they do a really great job of explaining how they navigate it, navigated it as much as one can. Um, but I think you can also hear in their answers that yeah, this is not, this is not a normal thing to navigate. This is not a normal thing for any human being to process. Like this is an unbelievable situation.
43:31 Speaker 00 Can you tell us exactly what the police theory is on what happened? Like behind these murder charges, we've got Matt and we've got Bailey charged. What do the police think happened?
43:41 Speaker 01 So the case largely boiled down to the testimony, um, from someone you learn all about in the podcast and how he fits into things. But simply put, police believe that Micah was murdered at his home and they were eventually able to get him to talk. Um, and he said that the day that Micah went missing, the day where all activity stopped, that is the day that law enforcement believes,
44:18 Speaker 01 um, that Matt Queen and Bailey essentially lured Micah to this friend's house. And police believe that they tortured him and ultimately murdered him and dismembered his body and. Law enforcement's theory, you know, this is the part of the case that I always had an issue with and sort of still do. Prosecutors don't have to prove a motive when proving a murder case, but of course, every jury wants to, you know, wants to know what the motive was. I mean, everyone wants to know what the motive was.
45:00 Speaker 01 And the best they could ever come up with was that they believed that Matthew Queen had a gun stolen from his house during a New Year's party that Micah was at and that they thought that Micah had stolen it. So they were questioning him about it and then ultimately it resulted in his murder. I don't, I always felt that that theory was quite flawed. But regardless, you know, as the detectives would say, as the prosecutor would say, that part is, that piece of it is far less important. What we really care about is the, you know, the actual evidence in terms of Micah being murdered.
45:42 Speaker 01 And so their friends, former friends, testimony was really the, the main part of the evidence. But from there, then law enforcement was able to see, okay, Matthew Queen and Bailey, both of their phones were at this individual's home at the exact time he told us that they came over with Micah and this and that. So that supported that story. And then another piece of evidence that's quite interesting was after Bailey went missing, Matt Queen dropped off some of her belongings at one of her friend's homes.
46:27 Speaker 01 Like it was, it was kind of a weird thing, almost like a, if you broke up with someone and you were pissed at them, so you, you know, dump a bag of their clothes outside or something, you know, he just, he dumped this bag of her things on her friend's doorstep and, you know, no one really knows why, but whatever. Inside this bag of her belongings was a purse, one of Bailey's purses, and there was a piece of rope tied on it. And that rope matched the rope that was also tied on the duffel bag that Micah's arm
47:07 Speaker 01 was inside. And then that same rope was also found tied to Matt Queen's headboard, I believe. So that was an interesting.
47:19 Speaker 00 And they also had blood, didn't they? They had Micah's blood.
47:22 Speaker 01 Yes, there was a small, there was a very small amount of his blood found at the home of the former friend who ended up testifying. So he basically said, he told the cops, after a lot of pushing from law enforcement, he eventually broke down and said, okay, yes, I know what happened to Micah. It was at my house in my garage. And he told them, go, you know, look in this part of the garage, you'll see a grease stain. It looks like a grease stain. Test it. And they did. And it matched to Micah's blood. But it was very
48:00 Speaker 01 small amount, which again is interesting, given that Micah was supposedly dismembered in that garage. So one would expect that they would have found more.
48:13 Speaker 00 You're so right. I hadn't even thought of that fact. Just one spot when you're dismembering a body, that is a lot of blood. So perhaps there were more locations involved. But you went to the trial of Matthew Queen in 2022. So you kind of re-entered Bakersfield, the story, the mums' lives. What was that like for you? Because you, your life was starting to move on, and then you kind of dived straight back in.
48:35 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was, that's an interesting question. You know, in some ways, it felt like I was coming back home, you know, to where I start, you know, Bakersfield's where I started my career, crime reporting and whatnot. But yeah, it was very interesting to sort of re-enter the picture. But I'm so glad that I did, because I just think there's something really meaningful as a journalist to get to see.
49:07 Speaker 01 A case progress when you know you've been on it from the very beginning. It's not, it's not a given, right? It's not something you get often. When you start following a case that you're going to get to be there from day one up until a trial. Actually, for me, it's quite rare that I've gotten to experience that. So, yeah, it was, and it was kind of surreal in a way to think, wow. You know, would we be here right now if it weren't for everything the moms did? And I, I, it's impossible to say, but my gut tells me that no, we would not have ever
49:49 Speaker 01 gotten to a trial if it weren't for what the moms did.
49:53 Speaker 00 A part of the trial I want to ask you about, because obviously Bailey's still missing at this point. She doesn't get any say in any of these proceedings. And then you've got Matt, who actually gave evidence at his own trial and basically threw her under the bus and said she was the main perpetrator. She, sorry, listeners, cut off Micah's head. She was the, you know, the main instigator. How did that go down? Both with prosecutor, moms, you, hearing all of that play out?
50:23 Speaker 01 So I know I keep using the word shocking. I need to find a new word. But, you know, to put it in perspective, Matthew Queen, for four years, I believe it was at that point, had denied any involvement whatsoever in any violent crime. He had always said, you know, he had no idea what happened to Micah, was completely innocent of all the allegations. And then he gets on the witness stand, which also, that was surprising just to know he was going to testify because it's pretty rare to see a defendant testify on their own behalf, particularly in a murder case.
51:06 Speaker 01 And so for him to get up there on the stand and then all of a sudden.
51:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, we all realize in the courtroom, oh my gosh, he's telling, he's about to tell the story of what happened that day. He's about to, he's about to admit to this. Like, this is, this is, what is happening right now? And he goes on to tell a story of a completely different theory of the crime than we had ever heard before. And he essentially says that Micah's death was the result of him and Micah getting into an argument and Micah pulling a gun on him and him trying to wrestle the gun out of Micah's hands. And while that
51:55 Speaker 01 was happening, he says that Bailey grabbed a 40-pound dumbbell and dropped it on Micah's head, killing him instantly. And then he and Bailey, he said, decided that at that point, they felt it was best to dispose of Micah's body and so that they dismembered him. And he said that they didn't want Micah's body ever to be found, right? They just wanted, you know, they didn't want there to be a murder investigation. That was the intent.
52:34 Speaker 01 So it was quite unexpected when his arm was found. And then also, Micah's skull was later found in a bag in the river as well. But anyhow, so it was, it was just, I mean, it was crazy. There's really no other way to describe it. I think, you know, obviously, it was incredibly difficult for the moms to hear, particularly Bailey's mom. I mean, you know, in the courtroom, people are given strict instructions. You know, you cannot react. You, you sit there and you be quiet, even if you're the family members of the victim. They still really don't want you having any type of emotional outburst reaction,
53:19 Speaker 01 really, during the court proceedings. So she just has to sit there.
53:25 Speaker 01 Wyatt, um, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, but, but of course internally she's dying inside thinking, you know, first of all, she always has said that she just does not believe that Bailey was physically capable of lifting a 40 pound dumbbell and lifting it high enough that she would have been able to, you know. So, yeah, so it was very difficult for the moms to hear this story. And then the detective, you know, who had spent so much time working on the case, he was stunned because he's like, what, you know, how many times have I given this guy the opportunity to tell me his side of the story? And he's always said, you know,
54:08 Speaker 01 he has nothing to say, that he didn't do anything and we have it all wrong. So, yeah, it was, it was, it was crazy.
54:17 Speaker 00 That was found guilty of murder in the second degree. So that's kind of the lesser murder charge, isn't it? What, what does that mean?
54:26 Speaker 01 Oh my gosh, I could talk about this aspect of the case forever because I still don't understand it myself. Prosecutors, the prosecution's theory was that Micah's murder was planned out, premeditated, which means the only charge that fits that crime is first degree murder. But then, then you have the defense, which was that this really wasn't murder at all, that this was, you know, that first of all, Matt Queen himself didn't do anything and it was Bailey. And the theory that they explained in how Bailey acted would
55:06 Speaker 01 really be a manslaughter charge. So when the jury came back with second degree murder, which is, it's murder, but no premeditation. Yeah, I think everyone involved, the moms, Matt Queen, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, were all curious of exactly what,
55:27 Speaker 01 The jury's theory of the crime was. So yeah, that was interesting.
55:32 Speaker 00 Yeah, their thought process. And then the sentence he was given was eighty six years, which can I just say to an Australian is huge? Because here our murder charges are around twenty three to twenty five years. So eighty six to me seems huge.
55:48 Speaker 01 And it is huge. It's huge for us here in the States as well. And the only reason why that occurred is because he was charged with so many other crimes. Micah's murder was one of, I believe it was thirty six charges total. You know, there were, there was quite the variety. There were charges for making, manufacturing the ghost guns.
56:22 Speaker 01 There were a lot of charges. It was, which made the trial itself long and intense. And yeah, so that is why, that is where that sentence comes into play. Because he was convicted of so many felonies. If he had only been convicted of the murder and second degree murder, his sentence would be fifteen years to life. And after fifteen years, he'd be eligible to seek parole.
56:54 Speaker 00 I can imagine like for Micah's family, that is a sense of closure. But then we've still got all these unanswered questions in the other two cases. You know, where's Bailey? There's no charges in her case. And then there's no charges in James's case either. I know that he was, you know, deemed a separate case. But we've got these two still unanswered crimes, don't we? Unsolved crimes.
57:17 Speaker 01 Yes, and you know, Micah's, Micah's mom Cheryl has always really made a point to say, you know, despite us getting this sense of resolution in our son's case, we, you know, our family still fully stands with the other two moms. And, you know, this won't really be resolved until there's answers in all three cases. And with Bailey's disappearance, you know, it's all these years later, she is still.
57:55 Speaker 01 Just missing, right? There was still no concrete evidence that says she is deceased, despite most people out there feeling like, yeah, that's, you know, that seems to be the most logical explanation. And so regardless, that is going to tear a family up inside unbelievably to have, to have no answers. But then you add in the complication that she was charged with murder. So, you know, very, very difficult for her family to have no answers.
58:37 Speaker 01 And then in James's case, you know, once it became clear that James's case was likely not directly connected to Bailey and Micah's cases, inevitably it got less attention.
58:52 Speaker 01 And then, once the trial began, James's mom, she was so crucial in, actually, no, prior to the trial, once it came out that Bailey was charged with Micah's murder, James's mom was so crucial in being the glue that held them together, right? You know, she was the support system for Bailey's mom and Micah's mom. And so inevitably, you have these reasons for why James's case is not getting maybe the attention that his family would want it to. And at the conclusion of Matt Queen's trial, James's mom, Di, told me, you know,
59:34 Speaker 01 okay, now I'm going to really go back to putting my all into my son's case and finding answers. And then very shortly after, she got sick, she was diagnosed with terminal or ovarian cancer, and, you know, I still can't really talk about it without...
1:00:02 Speaker 01 Getting choked up because it's not a part of the job that I anticipated. You know, you think it's, you think it's hard enough working with parents who lose their children to violence, but I never imagined working with parents who would not get to be here when, to see answers, right? I, I never imagined, you know, James's mom would put so much work into getting some sort of resolution and then she would die without that.
1:00:43 Speaker 01 So it was, you know, it was horrible. And I also feel, you know, a lot of emotion in regards to who is fighting for James now? You know, the other moms do an amazing job, but no one's gonna fight for, you know, no one's gonna fight the way that she was. And so it's just, it's very, very, it's tragic. It's just, yeah, it's, it's a hard part of the case.
1:01:20 Speaker 01 And for a while, when she was, when we knew she didn't have much time left, it did temporarily really push me to circle back to James's case and, you know, essentially try to do everything I could think of. And I made some breakthrough there with the chiropractor that, you know, had always been a person of interest. And he was willing to talk to me and, and then he died. So that...
1:01:55 Speaker 01 It's, yeah, so that was kind of unbelievable. And um,
1:02:02 Speaker 01 yeah, I really, I really, really hope.
1:02:04 Speaker 00 Olivia, can I just say you did everything, you did everything in your power in this case? This is not on you.
1:02:10 Speaker 01 Thank you. It's, you know, it's, James's case is really, it's a weird one because it seems so solvable, but yet it's not. So it's, you know, it's really confusing in, in that aspect. And I mean, I, I'm really hopeful that there will be answers in both his case and Bailey's case. And you know, after seeing James's mom pass without answers, you know, I, I don't want to think about that Bailey's family having to go through that, you know? It really is a part of the job that just,
1:02:52 Speaker 01 it hit me so much harder than I would ever imagine. And it just doesn't seem, it's just so not fair. You know, it's just so, obviously, it's so not fair. Um, but it's just like, how cruel can life be? Is sort of where I find myself.
1:03:09 Speaker 00 Well, we're in 2026 when we're talking now, and it's so obvious to me that the emotion in you from covering this case for so many years, you know, starting off in 2018, there was a trial in 2022. What's it like for you to like, look back in hindsight and see that how this case has kind of shaped to your career and you, you're a mom now? It, it feels like to me that it plays a special part in your life, this case.
1:03:38 Speaker 01 It absolutely does. And, you know, it, it taught me so many things about being a reporter. And, you know, the moms have inspired me so much. Um, but to be totally honest, you know, since
1:03:58 Speaker 01 becoming a mom recently, it's almost, I don't know, I think even on a subconscious level, I've almost.
1:04:08 Speaker 01 Taken a step back from the case because it is so much, you know, before I used to relate to the moms on a level of, oh, my mom loves me this much. My mom would do this for me. That is, and I thought that that already was emotional and intense. I never anticipated what it would make me feel like to think about what the moms have gone through, what they go through every day, being a mom myself. It's almost too intense. Um, yeah, it really, it really kind of is.
1:04:49 Speaker 00 Thank you to Olivia for joining us on this episode. You can find a link to her podcast, The Bakersfield Three, in our show notes. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back next week with another true crime conversation.
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